Art Blog Revival

Dear Readers,

During my stay in Los Angeles I was fortunate enough to be introduced to an authority on animation and cartoon history, who recommended a series of books to study from the Famous artists course. Thanks to them, when I returned back home, I did a bunch of research and purchased all of the lessons on Painting, Graphic design and Cartooning.

Interested in a quick history of the Famous Artists Course? Follow my blog, as I will be writing one in the near future!

Though I've neglected to do so in the past, I'm very excited to announce the revival of this blog as it marks the beginning of a new era in my work. The majority of my posts will be related to my studies. However, I do intend to post offshoot studies, doodles, scribblings and other content related to my art. I look forward to improvements on quality, draughtsmanship and confidence in lines. In addition to new techniques, I'm eager to learn different perspectives on art as well as new ways of viewing my surroundings with an artist's eye.

Thank you for reading and I hope you all have a lovely independence day weekend!

I'm Ba-aaack

It isn't a secret anymore!

I collect porcelains.

So far I have a perfectly eclectic little menagerie of animals; which includes a penguin, a skunk, a rabbit, conjoined puppies, a toucan and several more birds.

For the most part I understand the purpose of porcelains... I know they are supposed to be decorations. Something carefully placed on a beaurou among other fragile dust collectors such as collectible plates and false fruit.

But then there are the odd ones.
(For example: http://coreyshead.com/blog/?p=1803 )

I imagine the majority my fascination comes from being a cartoonist and a love for appealing designs. I often use them to study drawing with more dimensions. Such as these:

My other reasons are less creative, being a collector of many things.

At the age of three, my grandparents passed on, and my mother inherited all of their assets. Among them was a three foot tall jaguar. Not a real one, but a hollow one made from porcelain. It had an open mouth, wonky yellow eyes and sat like a regal house cat. I grew up with that thing in my home for as long as we'd lived in Washington. I am willing to let it bear some of the responsibility for my new and potentially expensive habit...
I remember trying to fit my fingers between its incisors, and watching it teeter left and right when I nudged it. I remember the smell of dust and cedar, and I remember wanting one to call my own.
It still has it's place in the sunken living room of my Mother's house, along with all of the other antiques we could fit into it: a chair set, the fore-mentioned buffet, a hand carved oriental chest, clocks, massive family portraits, stereopticons, porcelain Kewpie babies, and seemingly endless dinnerware sets.

My best finds I owe to a little store here in Port Townsend called 'Summer House.'
The Summer House carries mostly novelty items, from 'Titanic' ice trays to sushi pencil toppers. There are other things, such as handmade jewelry boxes and handmade jewelry to fill them. But I know what I am looking for. And they are scattered about the store as decorations. There are normally only a few: cute little porcelains.
The last time I was there, I found a couple of creepy enraged toddlers. They were less than four inches tall, had had very lifelike red twisted faces, flailing limbs, and fluffy diapers: Perfect.

The problem with antique stores and novelty shops is that they seem to have a better idea of what they are selling - and how much a person like me might be willing to pay for an ugly porcupine in good condition. At thrift stores these items would range from 50 cents to $20, depending on size and quality. However, they are less likely to be as high of quality as porcelains found at antique stores.

At this point I must admit that I am a collector. I have since put the majority of what I own on display after moving in with my Dad and his fiance.

New inspiration. Thanks, Looney Tunes!

I am often surprised by how little I actually draw over the summer. I might list what seems like endless ideas on the back of my sketchbooks, while the paper is more blank and begging than ever.

This summer most of my work was dedicated to studying more dimensional animals. I have been disappointed that a majority of my artwork appears flat. This is not ideal for the animation I am interested in. And is frankly not very appealing.

I began with the basics and came back with more that I could have ever anticipated! I have only studied a couple of characters and already I feel as if my style has been refreshed. (I still need help with my people, and hope to post my studies on them in the near future.)

These are my Claude studies. Notice I attempted understand color points using shading.

Here are a couple of Penelope. I drew this one from "For scentimental reasons."

Egads! What happened, Chuck?

Kitten Pussyfoot, which was the smallest of all the drawings.

(Notice a trend? Of course I chose to start with cats!)

After my studies, I utilized what I learned and created my own designs. I am very happy with how they turned out! I earned a new level of expressiveness and depth!

Looks like a Herbie! Or a Chester. or Wendell...

This looks the most like my style...

Love this one! I still wish I might have exaggerated all of these a little more, though.

More to come!

There is a solution!

Towards the third trimester of my last school year, I began some independent classes.

Among these were English and History. The requirement for my independent English class was to write an essay once every week.

I love writing nonfiction essays! I have only ever been asked to write a historical essay once during my entire public school education, and it was fantastic! A+. No corrections. It is something I am very proud of, so you could understand my joy when I was told I could get my High school English credits by writing essays about whatever I wanted as long as I had something to show for it once a week.

My historical interests lie in early to mid century America, culture conflict, stereotypes, trade among nations, and of course, animation history which is the subject of most of my essays.

Unfortunately for me, very few people have the chance to lay eyes on my essays. Which normally includes my parents and my high school adviser who grades my papers. Very occasionally I can badger a friend into reading one; quickly dawning the signature tight lipped and toothy smile, they attempt to wriggle their way out of my clingy (and moist?) hold of friendship.

"You owe me."

A little over a month ago, I noticed it had been over one year since my last post when it hit me: I can post my essays here! (Two birds with one stone, y'see.)

The school year is looking up and I think we have a plan that will work for me!

Next episode: Mel's parent's get involved.

If you can dig it.

Can you?